Thursday, January 12, 2006
Berkeley, 1968(Pt.1)
Much of my girlie activity took place right after I landed in Berkeley in the fall of 1968. I was set to start classes in the January quarter, but until then I was going to date everything in sight. In earlier columns, I wrote about meeting my first American girlfriend Ingrid, followed then by Gerrie and Charlotte. There were several others who made an interesting contribution to my life at that time.
One of these women was Mary, a lady I worked with when I temped for an agency and was sent out to Kaiser in Oakland. Mary was a good twenty some years older than me, somewhat chunky but attractive, with short curly dark hair and a somewhat executive manner. She also had a somewhat butch attitude that I guess attracted me at the time. You know how it is when you look back at someone who attracted you earlier, but now you're left wondering why they ever did in the first place. I would probably never be interested in someone like her now, but back then was back then.
I picked up that Mary might be gay, she said later she realized the same about me. One night I decided to take the bull by the horns, and I called her up and asked if I could come over. She said yes very readily.
Did I know I was heading out for what would be basically one big fuckfest? I was too naive and inexperienced to know fully what to expect, but I was hopeful something nice would occur. I picked Mary because she said "experience" all over her. I wanted to borrow from her storehouse of expertise.
Our little learning experience got under way nearly immediately. I knocked on the door, Mary answered, and as I was walking in she somehow had managed to plant a really juicy kiss on me and get my coat off at the same time. I know there must have been a living room there somewhere, but I don't remember seeing it. The apartment became one big bedroom.
Mary spent a while diddling me with her fingers. She held up two fingers, along with her thumb. "Guys like this," she indicated with her fingers, "But women like this," she added, showing how her thumb could work the clitoral area. I was sore for a day or two after this night. I felt I could afford playing with a co-worker, as my temp job ended soon thereafter.
Next I hung out with Connie, a slim short-haired blonde girl close to my age, who also played a mean game of pool. We met at Maud's, the classic dyke bar in San Francisco at the time. I went home the first night with Connie and we got really stoned. Then we both feel asleep on the living room floor.
When I awoke it was after midnight, and it was raining hard. Connie woke up too as if she'd fallen into a time warp.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded to know, as if she'd totally forgotten what transpired earlier. "You can't stay here," she concluded. This was such a Jekyll and Hyde kind of maneuver that I thought it better not to argue. For some reason, Connie had not only woken up on the "wrong side of the bed," she was somehow in the wrong movie as well. I rode home on my motorcycle across the Bay Bridge in a pouring rain. Exit Connie, who later called my ex Gerrie to say she felt badly about tossing me out. Great to know.
Girls were proving somewhat problematical. But I was determined I was going to be a lesbian, come hell or high water.
TO BE CONTINUED
One of these women was Mary, a lady I worked with when I temped for an agency and was sent out to Kaiser in Oakland. Mary was a good twenty some years older than me, somewhat chunky but attractive, with short curly dark hair and a somewhat executive manner. She also had a somewhat butch attitude that I guess attracted me at the time. You know how it is when you look back at someone who attracted you earlier, but now you're left wondering why they ever did in the first place. I would probably never be interested in someone like her now, but back then was back then.
I picked up that Mary might be gay, she said later she realized the same about me. One night I decided to take the bull by the horns, and I called her up and asked if I could come over. She said yes very readily.
Did I know I was heading out for what would be basically one big fuckfest? I was too naive and inexperienced to know fully what to expect, but I was hopeful something nice would occur. I picked Mary because she said "experience" all over her. I wanted to borrow from her storehouse of expertise.
Our little learning experience got under way nearly immediately. I knocked on the door, Mary answered, and as I was walking in she somehow had managed to plant a really juicy kiss on me and get my coat off at the same time. I know there must have been a living room there somewhere, but I don't remember seeing it. The apartment became one big bedroom.
Mary spent a while diddling me with her fingers. She held up two fingers, along with her thumb. "Guys like this," she indicated with her fingers, "But women like this," she added, showing how her thumb could work the clitoral area. I was sore for a day or two after this night. I felt I could afford playing with a co-worker, as my temp job ended soon thereafter.
Next I hung out with Connie, a slim short-haired blonde girl close to my age, who also played a mean game of pool. We met at Maud's, the classic dyke bar in San Francisco at the time. I went home the first night with Connie and we got really stoned. Then we both feel asleep on the living room floor.
When I awoke it was after midnight, and it was raining hard. Connie woke up too as if she'd fallen into a time warp.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded to know, as if she'd totally forgotten what transpired earlier. "You can't stay here," she concluded. This was such a Jekyll and Hyde kind of maneuver that I thought it better not to argue. For some reason, Connie had not only woken up on the "wrong side of the bed," she was somehow in the wrong movie as well. I rode home on my motorcycle across the Bay Bridge in a pouring rain. Exit Connie, who later called my ex Gerrie to say she felt badly about tossing me out. Great to know.
Girls were proving somewhat problematical. But I was determined I was going to be a lesbian, come hell or high water.
TO BE CONTINUED
